I Won’t Say I Told You So

A look backwards at Will Muschamp’s (mostly) unsuccessful tenure as South Carolina’s head football coach

On Sunday, November 16th at sometime around 8:00 pm the University of South Carolina Athletic Department announced that Will Muschamp had been relieved of his duties as head football coach. What exactly happened in the weeks, days, hours and minutes leading up to the decision by Ray Tanner to ultimately fire his head coach is largely rumor and hearsay. And if you think you know exactly what (or who) led to this decision you would certainly be correct. However the only thing you would be correct about is that you think you know exactly how this unfolded. One thing is for certain though. What happened in Oxford, Mississippi last Saturday was the final straw in what was certainly a tumultuous final 3 seasons for Will Muschamp.

“Ethel, I think we’re fighting a losing game…”

Words are funny. Sometimes the words we choose to describe something unintentionally fit so well that you can’t help but to laugh. The official statement issued by USC SID Steve Fink stated that Will Muschamp was “relieved” of his duties as head coach. Relieved. Gosh, for anyone familiar with this football program, and the trouble they’ve had on the field, and the stress that was evident on Muschamp’s face in his pressers, is there a more perfect word? Now of course flat out saying he was fired would be out of place in this context and usually coaches who haven’t committed some sort of off the field atrocities worthy of public scorn are “relieved” not “fired,” or even “dismissed.” But good gracious doesn’t it fit a little too well here? Over the past four weeks frustration from fans towards Muschamp and ultimately the athletic department reached new levels. A boiling point so hot that something had to be done. And for some 95% of fans the only thing to be done was to make a major change at the coaching level.

Usually when things spiral out of control on someone the issues start small. Then they start to pick up momentum slowly until it seems to hit a watershed moment where everything suddenly, and somewhat inexplicably, goes wrong at once. I liken it to the episode of I Love Lucy where Lucy and Ethel get jobs wrapping chocolates at a candy factory. If you haven’t seen it I highly recommend the clip. The boss loudly explains that if one piece of chocolate makes it past them unwrapped they would be fired (Not “relieved”). At first they are doing fine, wrapping the chocolates with ease until the conveyor belt starts moving so fast with so many chocolates the girls have to result to stuffing candies in their mouths and hats to avoid one getting past them. At one point Lucy yells out in desperation, “I think we’re fighting a losing game!” Heading into Oxford it felt like a similar situation for Muschamp. And if you’ve seen that episode of Lucy you’ll remember that the boss returns to them, sees they’ve survived and yells to the machine operator “SPEED IT UP.”

In what was certainly a season met with a lot of trepidation from Gamecock fans and members of the national media, USC wasn’t predicted to do well. Low levels of talent returning with the higher levels of talent having left for greener, NFL field shaped pastures led to low expectations. Not good in year 5 of a coach’s tenure coming off of a 4-8 season. But it was a “COVID year” (whatever the hell that means). Budget restraints and extremely restricted revenue streams meant no program would cut a coach in this environment. But then the games started. A loss right out of the gate to second year head coach Jeremy Pruitt and a mouthy Tennessee team where an inexcusable special teams mistake cost the Cocks a shot at a game winning drive was the first candy to make it by. Then a trip to Florida where tackling issues, another weird special teams mistake, and an inexplicable final drive (down 14) that took 48 minutes of game time to score a grand total of 0 points was the undoing of valiant effort. We were probably supposed to lose those games but losing them like that was pure brutality. I remember telling a friend post Florida, “If we’re going to lose I’d rather us just get blown out.” I’d soon get my wish.

A win over Vanderbilt was predictable (I think) and then an upset win over Auburn at home started to show some signs of promise. The defense that was lackluster at best had shown up two straight weeks and forced some turnovers and heading into LSU there was some definite momentum going on the road to the defending national champs. Due to injuries LSU would be playing a true freshman at QB in his first start and they were underperforming as well. Surely we could capitalize.

What happened that night in Baton Rouge has largely been redacted from my memory half due to choice and half due to half price Miller Lite buckets. But what I do remember of it wasn’t good. I’ve heard we were blown out but I haven’t much cared to confirm. At any rate is was a loss that had become so typical of Will Muschamp’s career in Columbia. A complete and utter failure to capitalize off of any previous momentum. A bye week went by and then another full fledged beatdown at the hands of Texas A&M in our own stadium got the rumor mill spinning. Reports of Muschamp being fired the following Sunday began to surface along with conflicting reports that his job was safe. Reports had also surfaced that he would be let go at the end of the season. With no announcements coming formally we officially had a ‘Schrodinger’s Muschamp’ situation. He was simultaneously dead and alive. Which leads us, finally, to Oxford Saturday night.

Freefall

If I had tried to convince you that a pair of 2-4 SEC teams would play a football game and that what would happen during the game would create stories on the national landscape of college football, you’d either tell me to shut up or ask me who my weed guy was hoping to score some for yourself. But with six other schools in the SEC shelved due to COVID, including Alabama and LSU who were scheduled to play as a follow up to Masters Saturday (sorry CBS), and a stinky slate of other games, a lot of people were forced against their will to watch Ole Miss and South Carolina. What ended up unfolding led to one coach ascending to social media heaven while another one free falling into coaching hell.

Remember what I said about spiraling out of control? How it all seems to reach an inexplicable tipping point? A wonderfully cacophonous crescendo of ineptitude and sadness? Yeah that’s pretty much what happened for Will Muschamp and co. in Oxford. It started off bad. Carolina marched right down the field on its first drive and scored on a ridiculously good catch from Shi Smith in the front left corner of the endzone. And then as he picked himself off of the finely manicured bermuda in Vaught-Hemmingway Stadium he preceded to take his helmet off to celebrate right in front of the official drawing a 15 yard flag. A shocking lack of discipline from a team who had been preached “discipline” along with “effort” and “toughness” during the Muschamp administration. Ole Miss parlayed their 15 yard head start on their first drive into 7 points of their own and used a Collin Hill interception on the next drive to get 7 more. It only got worse from there.

South Carolina scored at will. Ole miss couldn’t stop them and they knew it. Lane Kiffin would admit as much in his interview immediately following the game. The issue was that South Carolina couldn’t stop Ole Miss either. In a night where the Rebels’ offense was stopped only once, the last illusions of Will Muschamp’s defensive genius was slowly stripped away. And finally with 12:17 left in the game on 2nd and 7 from their own 9 yard line, Matt Corral launched a deep ball touchdown to Elijah Moore and Lane Kiffin launched his play sheet 30 yards into the air. The clip was immediately viral on Twitter and within minutes the play sheet had its own twitter account. We had gone from losing to laughing stock. Later on a critical 4th and 11 deep in Gamecock territory Corral spun another dime for a touchdown and Kiffin again spun his playsheet 15 rows into the stands. Sometimes it’s not just losing. It’s the manner in which you lose. I love watching Lane Kiffin pimp TD passes before they happen. But I hate seeing it happen to my team. On a night where Corral would tell media members that Ole Miss knew what their opponents were going to do on defense before they did it it was clear Will Muschamp’s career at South Carolina was finished. Ironically, after offensive issues plagued him at Florida and early in his tenure in Columbia, it was his defense that was ultimately his undoing. He had also committed the cardinal sin of the social media era. He was on the wrong end of a meme.

Moving On

About 13 and a half minutes into Ray Tanner’s press conference on Muschamp’s firing he was asked about his relationship with his coach and how that final conversation went. He paused, sighed, and with tears welling in his eyes and a lump forming in his throat, he paused again. As he delivered his answer while suppressing those emotions I felt myself become a little choked up. I certainly won’t weep for a man receiving north of 13 million dollars to not do his job, but I do have a deep and honest respect for an individual’s personal quest for perfection of their craft. The hours required to reach mastery of something which cannot be perfected. And I also have a level of respect for someone who is willing to put their craft on display under the intense microscope of performing at the highest level. As Ray Tanner spoke on his relationship with his now former head football coach I could see in his eyes the recognition of all of the successes Muschamp did have Columbia. And I began to remember them too.

He took a 3-9 program from the year before to a bowl game in his first season. He Took them to 9 wins (including a bowl win) the next season. By the end of the third season he had won more games in that time frame than any previous coach at Carolina. He ran a clean program, his players went to class, they made the grades, and they graduated at higher rates than many other programs on this level. He improved facilities and was a large part of the opening of the $50 million Long Family Football Operations building. He left the program in better shape than he found it. At the end of the day he just didn’t win enough football games and a decision had to be made to move on.

When you talk to me about Will Muschamp I won’t say I told you so. Because I didn’t. I may have been in the minority when he was hired but I believed in him and I believed that he could return the program to the levels Steve Spurrier had it in the early 2010’s. He just wasn’t able to. Eventually I changed my mind as the results began to pile up and I do agree that a change needed to be made. But after a lot of thought I hold onto no ill feelings towards Will Muschamp. And if I ever meet him I’ll gladly thank you for all of his hard work while in Columbia and wish him all the best in all of the weeks he isn’t coaching against us.

Forever To Thee